Columnists

Nadine O’Regan: For young people struggling here, emigration is again becoming a very real prospect

A shocking housing crisis at home is causing a generation of Irish young people to be less risk-averse when it comes to seeking their futures elsewhere

For many young people, it seems it’s more precarious to be in the Ireland of now, faced with ever greater challenges, than it is to move for their future to another country, where decent opportunities may beckon. Picture: Collins

"Guess what? I'm not coming home! I've been offered a job!"

It was an early morning in the late 1990s. My parents, who I was calling on the phone from San Francisco, would have been just about awake. At midnight my time in San Fran, 8am their time in Cork, I could probably have timed my emigration announcement better, but the excitement was too much for me.

I had been on a student visa to ...